Stormbringer Posted August 18, 2013 Author Share Posted August 18, 2013 In January 16 1969 The Beatles released their 11th (or 10th) LP: Yellow Submarine.This was released as the soundtrack for the animated movie of the same name, released in July 17 1968 in the UK. The band had a contract with United Artist for 3 movies (the first 2 being A Hard Day's Night and Help!), and an animated one was seen as a good way of completing their commitment. The band had actually little to do with the movie, as well as with its soundtrack. The A side of the LP consists of songs by the band, while the B side consists of the orchestral soundtrack composed by George Martin. The A side had 6 songs, only 4 of them are unreleased songs. Of those 4, only two were recorded specifically for the film: Hey Bulldog (Lennon/McCartney) and It's All Too Much (Harrison). The other 2 were recorded around the Sgt. Pepper's sessions: It's Only a Northern Song (Harrison) was left out of that album, and All Together Now (Lennon/McCartney) which was recorded shortly after the Sgt. Pepper's sessions.The A side was completed with Yellow Submarine and All You Need Is Love, previously released on Revolver and as a single respectively.Because of having so little new material, this album is often considered as the weakest released by the band. Yellow Submarine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXjWCs0ieLo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormbringer Posted August 29, 2013 Author Share Posted August 29, 2013 Though it was their last album to be released, it wasn't the last to be recorded: Let It Be, released on May 8 1970, was actually recorded for the most part in January-February 1969, as the project called Get Back. This was a Paul McCartney's idea to bring back the band to it's Rock n' Roll origins. The plan was to go back to basics, and write, rehearse and finally record new material in a live performance. This was finally played on the Apple building's roof.The only external musician here was the guest keyboardist Billy preston. All the the process was meant to be filmed on a sort of documentary that would finally be the Let It Be film. Things didn't went as expected as tensions began to rise again between the band, and the project was finally abandoned. They recorded however a lot of material, but not being happy with the results, those tapes were practically abandoned. Later, by March 1970, John Lennon approached producer Phil Spector to work on those recordings to have an album worth of being published. By this time, The Beatles had already recorded and released their last songs as a band in the album Abbey Road. Phil Spector's work has been highly controversial, specially because of his wide use of his "wall of sound" technique: adding multiple overdubs, big arrangements, and above all, huge amounts of reverb. Paul McCartney was specially dissatisfied with Spector's work, particularly with the treatment given to The Long And Winding Road. Personally, I don't like that much Spector's production. It's too excessive and it betrays the intention of going back to the basics of Rock n' Roll that the band had in mind for this work. I'm definitely not a fan of his overproduction and wall of sound. On the other hand, the songs are great! With the work finally done by Spector, both the album and the movie were released on May 8 1970. By this time The Beatles had already broken up a month ago. The album would reach the top position in the charts both in the UK and the US. Let It Be features 8 songs by Lennon/McCartney, 2 written by George Harrison, one credited to the whole band, and a traditional song. The latter 2 are more like jam sessions than finished songs though. Dig it, the first of those, is actually just a fragment of an extended jam. The album is mostly Rock n' Roll, despite the overproduction, with songs like Get Back; Dig a Pony; I've Got a Feeling, which clearly point in that direction. Harrison moves closer to Blues this time with I Me Mine and For You Blue. One of the songs, One After 909 was written by Lennon around 1960, and there's an early version from 1963 in the Anthology 1 album. There's also acoustic material, like Across the Universe, and on the folky side, Two Of Us. And we can also find 2 of Paul McCartney most known ballads: Let It Be and The Long And Winding Road. Let It Be Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shepherd Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 Not a great surprise but, In a newly discovered interview, John Lennon is heard saying recording The Beatles' "Let It Be" album was "hell." http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/stop-the-presses/john-lennon-says-let-sessions-were-hell-183651308.html (Includes nice photo of John.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormbringer Posted September 7, 2013 Author Share Posted September 7, 2013 Not a surprise indeed, but interesting article! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormbringer Posted September 26, 2013 Author Share Posted September 26, 2013 And the last one: Abbey Road. Though Let it Be was released after this album, Abbey Road is the last one to be recorded. The LP was released on September 26 1969, and was recorded between February 22 and August 20 of the same year, though most of if was recorded during July. It debuted at number 1 in the UK, and it reached the number 1 in the US too. This album marks the return of George Martin as the producer, and it was the last time The Beatles worked as a band. It has 17 songs: 14 credited to Lennon/McCartney, 2 written by George Harrison, and one by Ringo Starr. Side A opens with John Lennon's Come Together, a riff driven rock song, though curiously, is the bass riff this time, and not the guitar what drives the song. It's followed by Something, one of George Harrison's masterpieces: a beautiful ballad with a wonderful guitar solo by Harrison and an amazing bass line courtesy of Paul McCartney. Then we find Maxwell's Silver Hammer, written by Paul McCartney. It has a funny contrast between music and lyrics: a major key "happy" song, about Maxwell, who has been literally smashing people's head with his Silver Hammer. The next one is another McCartney's song, one of my favorites: Oh! Darling. Here McCartney delivers an amazing vocal performance with great power, and yet soul too. Next one is the song by Ringo: Octopus's Garden, which he wrote while on "vacations": the time he left the White Album recording sessions the previous year. To close the A side of the LP we have a John Lennon song: I Want You (She's So Heavy), a heavy and minimalistic song that spans for over 7 minutes. some great (and heavy for 1969) guitar riffs we can find in this song and little lyrics too: the song's title and little more. One of my favorites too! On to the B side: It starts with another George Harrison masterpiece: Here Comes the Sun, a beautiful acoustic song, which he wrote one time he went to visit Eric Clapton. The next song is by John Lennon: Because, inspired by Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata for piano. All the song sing on a three part vocal harmony by Lennon (low part), McCartney (high part) and Harrison (central part). This was then triple tracked to give a 9 voices effect. And here we arrive to the first medley: You Never Give Your Money, Sun King, Mean Mr. Mustard, Polythene Pam, She Came In Through the Bathroom Window. These were bits of songs, mostly unfinished, written by either Lennon or McCartney during the White Album, and Get Back period. Then all those bits were put together as a suite. It is followed by another medley: Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight, and The End. This last part of the medley features the only recorded drum solo by Ringo Starr, though it's a rather simple one. It also features a guitar solo battle between McCartney, Harrison and Lennon (that is the order in which they play each of their solos). But The End is not the last song. There's a "hidden track", as it wasn't originally listed in the firsts releases of the album: Her Majesty is an acoustic bit written by Paul McCartney. it was originally to be mixed between Mean Mr. Mustard and Polythene Pam, though they didn't liked the result. And then an engineer, having the instructions of not throwing away Beatles' material, put it on the end of the tape. Abbey Road is one of the most acclaimed Beatles' albums and it's usually listed as one of the LPs by the band. Personally is one of my favorites too, probably a second place to the White Album. Abbey Road Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donbot Posted September 26, 2013 Share Posted September 26, 2013 Covers welcome here? This was from a show that toured around Australia a few years ago, where some of the country's favourite musicians (+ band) performed The White Album in full - it was really good. Chris Cheney (The Living End), Tim Rogers (You Am I), Phil Jamieson (Grinspoon) and Josh Pyke (Y) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUTmWPmZ2uQ Dat solo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donbot Posted September 26, 2013 Share Posted September 26, 2013 Also.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormbringer Posted September 26, 2013 Author Share Posted September 26, 2013 Covers are definitely welcome! Loved them both, specially those guitar solos on the first one. Such an amazing song While My Guitar Gently Weeps is!Some years ago we played The White Album in full here too, though in a much smaller scale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormbringer Posted October 6, 2013 Author Share Posted October 6, 2013 I saw this one some years ago: It's a funny video that show us the story that's told on the lyrics on an animation. Funny how McCartney did such a "happy" piece of music with such lyrics Maxwell's Silver Hammer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donbot Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 ^That's great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormbringer Posted October 13, 2013 Author Share Posted October 13, 2013 Well, this is not The Beatles, or a Beatles song. And since I'm going through a maybe noticeable Black Sabbath phase , this is a song of them: After Forever http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkmyZ8juZWw Why am I posting it here? I've always thought that the intro has a very strong Beatles vibe. Like from the Revolver era maybe. Both the guitars and the bass line. What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormbringer Posted October 24, 2013 Author Share Posted October 24, 2013 This is a demo recorded after the band returned from India, and before starting the recording sessions for the White Album. The song was written by John Lennon. Child Of Nature It wasn't included in the album though. But a couple of years later, Lennon re-arranged the song and changed it's lyrics, and Child of Nature would then become Jealous Guy, included in his solo album Imagine (1971) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giN6m-sfzng (Damn... such a beautiful song!! Both versions) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormbringer Posted November 7, 2013 Author Share Posted November 7, 2013 Damn... all the full albums I posted are down now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormbringer Posted November 23, 2013 Author Share Posted November 23, 2013 Yesterday it was the 45th anniversary of this magnificent album: The BEATLES (Known as The White Album)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zNstFt7mYM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shepherd Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 The Eurythmics are reuniting — to pay tribute to the Beatles. http://music.yahoo.com/news/sweet-dream-eurythmics-uniting-beatles-tribute-113654860.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shepherd Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Jan 14 '2014 NEW YORK (AP) — The Grammys weekend is shaping up to be a Beatles weekend.The Recording Academy announced Tuesday that Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will perform at the Jan. 26 awards show in Los Angeles. The Beatles will be honored at the Academy's Special Merits Awards the day before, and a day after the big show, the iconic group will be the center of a performance special featuring Eurythmics and other acts playing Beatles hits.McCartney's nominations include best rock song and music film.Other Grammy performers include Taylor Swift, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Kendrick Lamar, Robin Thicke and Katy Perry. Sara Bareilles will sing with Carole King, while Stevie Wonder, Daft Punk, Nile Rodgers and Pharrell will perform together.The Grammys will air live on CBS from the Staples Center. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormbringer Posted January 15, 2014 Author Share Posted January 15, 2014 ^ Paul and Ringo together, that should be awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormbringer Posted January 23, 2014 Author Share Posted January 23, 2014 Just found this gem AMAZING singing by Sir Paul http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmZDS1938lE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormbringer Posted January 23, 2014 Author Share Posted January 23, 2014 Another find. Now some great singing from both John and Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shepherd Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 56th Annual Grammy Awards, Los Angeles, Jan 26 '14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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